Unravel Me
by Fading Serenity
Summary: What if Harry discovered magic at an earlier stage? Full of riddles already from a young age, Dumbledore realizes that the difference between Tom Riddle and Harry Potter might not be so big after all... LV/HP Dark!Slytherin!Harry
1. Poison

**I'm **going to start by saying that this is my first Harry Potter fanfiction and I'm always open to new ideas for this story. Also, I have a dilemma I'm trying to decide over in this story regarding Harry's father. If you think you can be of some help, please PM me!

**Warnings: **SLASH! LV/HP. (Which means Harry/Voldemort) **Dark**/Evil/_Smart_ Harry

**Summary: **What if Harry discovered magic at an earlier stage? Full of riddles already from a young age, Dumbledore realizes that the difference between Tom Riddle and a young Harry Potter might not be so big after all...

_Your cruel device. Your blood, like ice.  
One look, could kill. My pain, your thrill..._

_You're poison running through my veins._

**Chapter 1: Poison**

Dumbledore was in an exceptionally good mood today. The reason why? Ha was about to meet the boy who would be the savior of the Wizarding world. A pure symbol of the light. Harry Potter.

Albus Dumbledore was practically giddy as he made his was across the impeccable lawn on Privet Drive 4. It really was a nice neighborhood. What evil could possibly be existing here, in between the colorful flowers and neat houses? Surely, nothing, Dumbledore reasoned.

Knocking on the door he waited for it to open. First, it was quiet, before the shuffling of feet could be heard. Next, there was a clicking sound, almost like a lock being closed. How… odd. Before Dumbledore could ponder further on the subject, the door opened.

The man… well, let's be honest here, more like whale, who had opened the door, eyed the wizard on his doorstep with a critical eye, almost like he wondered how anyone would dare knock on his door dressed in _purple_ robes. This, in itself, probably wasn't that common here, when you thought about it.

"What do you want?" The whale spoke with narrowed eyes. "If there's anything you want to sell, I'm not interested!"

Dumbledore, completely taken aback by the hostility in the man's voice took a step back before clearing his throat.

"Oh no," Dumbledore began as merrily as he could. "I simply wish to speak to you about a member of your family having a place at my school."

Abruptly, the man's whole demeanor changed and he tried a charming smile (Which looked completely inappropriate on his face) before opening the door and inviting him in.

"Should I get Dudley now, or do you perhaps want to speak to me first?" The man, who Dumbledore had figured out, must be Vernon, said.

"Oh. No," Dumbledore said again, eyes twinkling in their usual way. "It's Harry I would like to speak to."

Vernon abruptly froze and any resemblance of a smile was quickly replaced by anger.

"That freak!" He burst out before he could stop himself. He turned around sharply to with narrowed eyes to look at the headmaster. "You're one of them then, aren't you?" He spat, visibly trying to conceal his obvious dislike of _'them.'_

To say that Dumbledore was surprised would be an understatement. He was completely floored, but he tried covering it up with a wide smile.

"I'm quite sure I am no freak, sir. I simply wish to speak with Harry." Dumbledore repeated, as calmly as he could.

Vernon grumbled under his breath, to quiet for Dumbledore to pick up the exact wording, but knowing they were not pleasant was easy to realize. He was soon showed to a living room and sat down in one of the couches. Vernon simply stood there, as if he didn't want to leave him unsupervised.

"Would you please get Harry for me?" Dumbledore said finally, when he realized Vernon had no intention of moving. Vernon did not look thrilled at the idea, but nonetheless, turned on his heel.

However, the footsteps didn't travel far, nor did they move upstairs as Albus had expected. Instead, he could hear the distinct sound of a lock being opened; under the stairs?

Suddenly, Dumbledore had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Surely, he had let his mind make up things? A cupboard?

His lines of thoughts were interrupted when Vernon practically shoved a small and thin boy inside the room. The boy, however, snapped his head around in what Dumbledore assumed was a glare. Vernon paled and barely hidden fear showed in his eyes before he left without another word, not looking back.

Then, the boy turned around and the sinking feeling returned tenfold in Dumbledore's stomach.

Cold green eyes were appraising him, looking fairy cautious. Those eyes reminded him only a small bit of Lily. There was no warmth in those eyes; instead he was vividly reminded of the color a certain curse looked like.

The boy was not tall, but definitely not short either. No glasses rested upon a delicate nose, as Albus had faintly suspected. After all, many generations of Potters had inherited the bad eyesight. James unruly hair wasn't present either, instead a tamer version of pure black silk rested atop his head.

High cheekbones were on a just as delicate face, skin a bit pale, but not sickly so, rather closer to glowing. Another thing Dumbledore quickly noticed were the straight posture and almost regal look the boy held.

All in all, Harry James Potter, looked every bit like a pureblood right there and then; a proud one at that too.

"Your staring is starting to make me uncomfortable, sir," The smooth and velvety voice made Dumbledore snap out of whatever trance he had been put in and a grandfatherly smile spread across his features.

"I did not mean to stare, I was just surprised by how much you have grown, and that's all. Last time I saw you, you were but a small baby," He said, smile still bright on his face.

The green eyes snapped up to his face after the word _baby._

"You knew me when I was a baby? You knew my parents?" The words were close to a whisper and Albus could clearly hear the surprise in those words.

"Yes. Your parents were both very dear to me." He answered.

A hope seemed to enter Harry's eyes at the mention of his parents and he slowly moved forward and took a seat across the headmaster, almost like he deemed him trustworthy enough to finally sit down.

"I know almost nothing of my parents," Harry spoke quietly. "Only that they died in a car crash."

"A car crash?" Dumbledore repeated, surprised. "They did not die in a car crash, my boy. They were… killed." Albus said finally after a short pause.

Harry just stared at him, not quite wanting to believe what he heard.

"By whom?" He finally managed to ask.

"By a dark wizard," Dumbledore began, ignoring the surprised expression crossing Harry's features in favor of explaining. "You see Harry; your father was a wizard, just as your mother was a witch. They were kind and light people but because of that, they were hunted by dark wizards and witches." Here, Dumbledore paused before continuing.

"There was one wizard especially, who was more than any other. His name was Voldemort. Your parents were killed by him, when they were trying to protect you. Have you ever wondered about your scar?" Albus questioned and watched as Harry, almost unconsciously, placed a hand across his forehead, where the scar was.

"That is not a normal scar," He continued after seeing Harry nod mutely. "It's from a curse. The killing curse, actually. You are the only one to have ever survived it. You are quite famous already in the wizarding world." He finished.

Harry just stared blankly ahead, looking all like he was currently not present in the room. It was a lot to take in, Dumbledore supposed. He decided to wait to tell him about the fact that Voldemort most likely would come back, and that he would want to finish what he had started; namely, killing Harry.

"But now, to the matter at hand, I'm offering you a place at my school, Hogwarts. It's a school of magic."

"You mean… what I do is magic?" Harry whispered after a long and uncomfortable (At least in Dumbledore's opinion) silence.

"Oh? What is it that you can do, my boy?" He questioned, with the warm grandfatherly smile in place, not at all expecting the answer he got.

"I…" Harry hesitated at first. "I can make things vanish. When I get hurt, I can make the pain go away. And… animals, they listen. I can make them do what I want. There's-…" Harry stopped talking abruptly.

"There's what?" Dumbledore asked, smile long gone from his face. The boy could do wandless magic? At this age? Without training?

"Nothing," Harry finally said and kept his eyes stubbornly on the floor.

Albus Dumbledore didn't really know what to think. The boy seemed very closed off, nothing at all like he had expected and it didn't look like he was about to shed his secrets anytime soon. For now, the headmaster decided he could let it go. He needed the boys trust and pushing it too far now might break that.

"Well, leaving that aside," _For now,_ Dumbledore thought. "You need to buy the things you need. Your parents have left quite an amount of money. I have a list here with me so we should-"

"You are accompanying me?" Harry interrupted.

"Yes, I assumed that you would need someone to come with you," Dumbledore said slowly.

The guarded look in those intense green eyes intensified and he seemed to straighten up in the couch.

"I would prefer going on my own," Harry continued before the headmaster could interrupt. "I'm used to doing things on my own. If you could perhaps draw me a map of where I need to go, I'll make sure that I have the things I need for Hogwarts."

As he said this, he carefully took the paper and the key to his parent's vault Albus was still holding and scanned through it. There was little Dumbledore could do except agree and quickly write down instructions how to get to Diagon Alley and then a map to the right platform for the Hogwarts-express.

"Well, just follow the instructions and I'll see you at Hogwarts. Is there something else you want to know?" Harry seemed to hesitate again, before he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Um… Do wizards normally have the ability to speak to… animals?" There was an obvious pause before the last word where Dumbledore could practically feel himself freeze.

"What kind of animal are we talking about?" Albus said slowly, every resemblance of an old grandfather gone.

The boy eyed him for a long time before his expression became completely closed off.

"Nothing, sir," He said carefully. "It's been a long day, with loads of new things to take in. I'm simply tired."

Albus would almost have believed him, if it weren't for the cold feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts then. Good luck with your shopping." Dumbledore said instead.

"Yes sir, you surely will."

Albus Dumbledore could feel the intense green eyes on his back as he left Privet Drive 4. It sent shivers down his spine.


	2. Meeting With A Dragon

**Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm going to try and reply to them soon! (:**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter.

**Warning:** Grammar mistakes.

_Don't put your life in someone's hands.  
They're bound to steal it away.  
Don't hide your mistakes.  
'Cause they'll find you, burn you.  
Then he said._

_If you want to get out alive.  
Hold on, run for your life._

**Chapter 2: Meeting with a dragon**

Finding Diagon Alley hadn't been easy. Harry had gone the wrong way quite a few times before finally finding the right direction. Now, he really had to use all his willpower not to gape like a fish at what he saw. It was like a completely different world.

Well, Harry supposed, it_ is_ like another world. Pretty much everyone was wearing robes and some were even carrying brooms. What they could be used for was anyone's guess. Harry had a suspicion though and even the thought of _flying_ was almost enough to make him giddy. Everything here was so new to him.

And he belonged in it. For once, he wasn't an outsider; a freak.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, he brought forward the list of things he needed to acquire for Hogwarts. First, though, he needed to visit Gringotts, which he learned the "magical bank", was called.

Putting his left hand in his pocket and turning right, he hugged the golden key to his parents vault, trying to ignore the stares he had begun to get from all sorts of directions. At first, he assumed the few stares he had got in the beginning would decrease and vanish, but rather the opposite was happening. The whispers and stares were increasing and now he could even hear some of it.

Whispers of_ "Harry Potter", "Look at the scar!"_ and _"The-boy-who-lived," _were starting to make him nauseous. He had never really been fond of being the center of attention, mainly because all attention he had ever received had been a negative one.

His relatives had been a big part in that.

First, he played with the idea of trying to avoid the stares and whispers at all costs by slipping in to the shadows, hunching his shoulders to look smaller and keeping his head down. That would surely work out fine, wouldn't it?

But alas, Harry Potter had too much pride to do that. So he did the exact opposite.

Squaring his shoulders and lengthening his steps, he tried to keep his face impassive as he entered Gringotts.

"Hello, sir, what is your name and business here?" A voice greeted him who belonged to a goblin. First, Harry could only stare at the odd creature before he managed to answer.

"My name is Harry Potter and I would like access to my parents vault, the Potter vault," He said.

"So you are Harry Potter, I see." The goblin began, studying Harry's face. "Very well, follow me and I'll have Gargoff take you down."

While they walked, Harry took the moment to admire Gringotts. The hall he was currently in had desks all lined up at along the walls, some with goblins occupying them, some empty.

Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and lit up the polished floor. All in all; it practically screamed money and wealth.

Harry's musings came to a stop, however, when the goblin stopped in front of a small wagon, where another goblin was seated.

"Gargoff, I need you to bring Harry Potter to his vault." The seemingly older goblin spoke to the one in the wagon.

The only answer he got was a mutter that sounded fairly close to a "yes".

Carefully entering the wagon at Gargoff's cue, he sat down stiffly on the small seat. He had never liked the sight of the roller-coasters Dudley had seemed so fond of when they were smaller. Naturally, he hadn't been allowed to try but if he had, he would have probably refused.

With a yelp he grabbed hold of the edge when the wagon shot off in a speed Harry hadn't thought possible. He quickly closed his eyes and tried to think of something else. It didn't work.

After many turns and ups and downs, they finally stopped. Harry quickly got out and sighed in relief when his feet touched safe ground again.

'_Don't vomit, don't vomit,'_ Harry repeated in his head before he managed to take a deep breath and straighten up from his hunched position.

Raising his head, he could see that Gargoff were trying to hide a smirk. Harry saw it anyway, and tried to look offended. It came out as a grimace. Instead, he chuckled quietly, realizing some of the humor in the situation.

"I'd rather not do that again." He muttered, with the smile still on his face though.

He got a smirk in return that could almost classify as a smile.

**{Unravel Me}**

"Books, I need books," Harry murmured as his eyes swept past the titles for the material he would need on the paper. He was currently inside Flourish & Blotts, moving past shelves filled with books. Even his primary school's library didn't have this much books! Harry was in heaven.

He had always loved to read and had consumed every book he could get his hands on living with the Dursleys. He grimaced at the name, how he hated that family! Deciding not to think about it, he started searching for the books he would need again.

'Hogwarts: A history', was quickly found in the bookshop and after a little bit of looking, he found the other books he would need, together with a potion set. He picked out some other interesting looking books as well and decided to buy them too, even if they weren't on the list.

Books had never hurt anyone, right?

Just when he was about to go and pay for everything, a tingling feeling crept down his back. He stopped abruptly before he slowly walked to a bookcase standing in a corner. Green eyes swept past the titles before they came to a stop on a dark green cover with silver lining.

Taking out the book, he tried to make sense of the symbols written on the cover.

At first, they looked unreadable before they started to morph into what looked like another language. Suddenly, it was like readable English.

Giving the book one last look over, he added it to the pile of books he had decided to buy, together with his school supplies.

**{Unravel Me}**

The shopkeeper paused at the green book with silver lining before looking up at Harry with a frown.

"You can read this?" He wondered.

"Shouldn't I?" Harry questioned slowly, emerald eyes moving from the shopkeepers face to the book.

"Well," The shopkeeper began hesitantly. "Nobody has ever been able to read it before. Apparently, it's a book written in parseltounge."

"Parseltounge?" Harry repeated incredulously.

"You don't know?" The tone was disbelieving. "Apparently Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth, just as you-know-who, the same man who gave you that scar." Here, he paused and motioned to the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. "What I'm trying to say is, they could both speak to snakes."

**{Unravel Me}**

Harry's mind was in turmoil as he made his way to Ollivander's wand shop. So, the man who had killed his parents (and tried to kill him) had also been able to speak to snakes. But it also seemed like this Salazar Slytherin, who he really had no idea who he was, could also speak to snakes.

Was it only two known wizards that could speak parseltounge?

Pushing the thoughts aside for now, he entered Ollivander's shop. Harry barely had time to take his first steps in before the sound of a sliding ladder was heard and on one of the shelves, an older man quickly climbed down the steps of the ladder.

"If it isn't Harry Potter, finally here to receive his wand, I presume?" The man exclaimed happily as he shook hands with Harry. Before he could even reply, he spoke again.

"Now, I'm curious as to the wand you will choose."

"Choose, sir?" Harry interrupted after having recovered a bit from the wand maker's exuberant personality.

"Oh? No one has told you? Well, try a wand and we'll see." He took up a wand from a small box before reaching out to give it to Harry. "Try this one."

Harry's finger had barely touched the wood before a loud crack, followed by sharp spark, and a bookshelf crashed down. Ollivander quickly retrieved the wand before it could do any more damage. Several more tries later (and a much more damaged shop) Ollivander gave a resigned sigh. Then, his eyes widened.

Moving to one of the shelves furthest away, he picked out a wooden case, containing a light brown wand and giving it to Harry.

And Harry, expecting nothing more than an odd sensation and another broken item, was quite shocked when the wand practically _hummed_ in his grip. A warm and fuzzy feeling spread through him and out of reflex, he waved the wand sharply in the air. Green sparks erupted from the tip and Harry could feel the pleasant feeling increase.

"Interesting," He heard Ollivander, voice close to a whisper.

Harry instantly snapped out of his reverie to look at the man, almost having forgotten he was there.

"It's interesting," He repeated, "That you choose the twin of the wand who gave you that scar."

_Twin?_

"Twin?" Harry repeated, loud this time.

"11 inches long, holly, phoenix core. Albus Dumbledore's bird, Fawkes, only ever gave two feathers. One, in the wand you're holding. The other belonged to the same person who killed your parents and gave you your scar, he-who-must-not-be-named."

Harry didn't know what to say after that, so he just remained quiet instead. What was he supposed to say?

**{Unravel Me}**

Harry was gratefully moving to the last stop for the day. He was now holding another addition to what he would need at Hogwarts. A snowy white owl sat inside a cage, hooting softly when she noticed that he was looking at her. She was very intelligent he had quickly realized. Despite being happy that he now had a pet, he was actually looking forward to be able to settle down under the cupboard, for the first time in his life, and be able to _rest._

He was tired and needed to sort through all the thoughts in his head of the things he had learned today. He didn't like to be feeling this unorganized and having his thoughts in a jumble. He had always prided himself with always trying to remain in control.

But, alas, it was lot of things to take in on one day so he was thankful when he spotted 'Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions' where he would be buying his first wizarding robes. He almost smiled at the thoughts before realizing how stupid he was sounding.

Pushing the door open, he entered the shop and quickly understood that he weren't the only one wanting to buy robes. Another boy was standing with his arms outstretched while the shopkeeper was taking measurements. The other boy had pale blond hair, slicked back so that his high cheekbones and grey eyes came into focus. His posture was straight and he seemed to try and give off an air of indifference.

When the shopkeeper finally noticed him, he paused in his measurements.

"I'll help you in a-…" He began to say before he noticed the lightning-bolt scar and instead exclaimed."

"Harry Potter! You're probably here to get your Hogwarts robes, just as this young man here! A pleasure to finally meet you!" The man was certainly making Harry uncomfortable and he just nodded mutely, before gray eyes met emerald.

The two boys seemed to measure each other up, ignoring the shopkeeper's excitement and ranting.

"My name is Draco. Draco Malfoy." The boy finally said and would probably have offered him a hand if it weren't for the fact that he still stood with his arms stretched out, in order for the robes to be fitted properly.

"Harry Potter." Harry replied with a nod before his eyes were drawn to who had to be Draco's father.

He held out a hand while piercing Harry with gray, almost silver, eyes. "Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco," He introduced while they shook hands.

A handshake was always a good clue to a person's character. Lucius was confident and strong

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said smoothly.

Harry had always prided himself with being very knowledgeable with manner, even if his relatives hardly knew the word.

"The pleasure is all mine," Lucius replied pleasantly.

**{Unravel Me}**

I'm trying to see if anyone got my reference that I sneaked in. It's not very obvious, just one sentence. ;)


	3. Hogwarts

**First of all, I would like to thank for the lovely reviews, I will reply to those I haven't soon!**

I'm quite unsure if I like this chapter or not, since it's so much information and stuff. We are getting to the good stuff soon, my dear readers, hold on!

Also_, in chapter 2,_ I asked if you guys could find the reference I had sneaked in. It was actually only two people who were able to find it. Anyway, it was the part where I wrote:  
**"Books had never hurt anyone, right?"**

I was referring to the diary in Harry's second year. Yeah, I'm awesome like that.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter

**Warnings:** Bad grammar.

_What would it take for things to be quiet?__  
__Quiet, like the snow.__  
__And I know this isn't much but__  
__I know I could I could be better._

**Chapter 3: Hogwarts**

Harry never would have thought that he would need to run into a wall purposively, but apparently, in the wizarding world, that wasn't strange at all. He had already seen a few people run through the brick wall, but he still didn't feel an overbearing desire to smash through it.

His attention was caught by a group that all seemed to be… gingers. Curly red hair as far as he could see was the common similarity. Harry figured they had to be a family. They were talking rather loudly with each other and when the youngest boy laughed, Harry actually _flinched_. It wasn't a pretty sound and it grated on his eardrums.

Deciding to ignore them and the brick wall for now, he thought back to what he had managed to read in the short time he had before leaving for Hogwarts. 'Hogwarts: A history' was quickly read followed by skimming through a few of the other more interesting books. Well, at least he now knew who Salazar Slytherin was and that he indeed, were something called a parselmouth. He had decided to try and find of few books of the snake-language when he got to the school. He still hadn't begun reading the parseltounge book he had yet, more than the occasional flickering through pages. It looked interesting and he hoped that Hogwarts would have books in parseltounge in their library, not just about the language itself. He had seen a picture of it in Hogwarts: A history, and could honestly say it had been impressive. The primary school he had attended before hardly had any books at all.

That was one of the biggest things he was looking forward to. Reading about magic and learning how to use it. Then, he would finally prove to himself that he belonged here. That here, no one would call him freak for doing magic. Another perk as well, was to finally be rid of the Dursleys. Even if they didn't touch him anymore, they had other ways to show their contempt. Just the thought of them made him frown and his eyes darkened. Oh, how he despised their very existence.

The cupboard, he decided, was probably the thing he hated and liked the most at the Dursley residence. They often did not lock it anymore, but that was still one of the few places he could be left alone. It was a sad thought, realizing that his "sanctuary" was a cupboard.

"Hey, are you also starting Hogwarts?"

Jerking out of his thoughts, the red head he had heard laughing before with his family was standing right in front of him. And pretty close too. Too close for comfort, Harry decided as he took a step back. Then, he realized the boy had asked him a question.

"Eh… yes." Harry replied, as he eyed the freckles dusting the boy's cheeks and the _curly_ red hair.

Harry wanted to take another step back.

"Cool! I'm starting my first year too today! My two brothers are already third years though, so I kind of know a lot about the school and stuff. Like the teachers, the houses and things like that. Name is Ron Weasley." He finally introduced himself in somewhat a quieter tone than the one he had used previously.

"Harry Potter." He introduced shortly. This person in front of him didn't seem very interesting or… different. Harry had sort of presumed every wizard would be carrying themselves with a sense of power, sort of. After his meeting with the Malfoy family, he had certainly gotten that impression. Even Dumbledore, in his own weird fashion sense, still oozed power.

He was able to see the mouth fall open and the eyes grow in size and Harry was disappointed. Surely, this Weasley in front of him was an exception. He was sure that everyone magical had to be special, almost, at least.

"Young man, you are going to miss the train with your dallying!" The new voice made Harry's eyes shift to an older woman who had walked up to them, Ron's mother, he presumed. She noticed Harry quickly and didn't seem to question why her own son had his mouth open.  
"Oh, hello dear, are you also taking the Hogwarts express?" She said kindly.

"Yes, I am. It was very nice to meet you Ron. You too ma'am," He added. "But the train will leave soon," He smiled and with a short 'bye' finally closed his eyes tightly as he went through the wall, to reach the train.

**{Unravel Me}**

Wasn't there a single compartment that wasn't already taken? Harry wondered as he walked pass door after door. He wanted to be alone for the time being, to at least start to ponder on everything going through his head.

Finally, he found an empty one and, relived, he quickly slipped through the door. Tucking his baggage away and opening up a book on potions, he started to read. He had just gotten into the book properly, reading about a potion called the _Calming Draught, _which was, as you could guess by the name, a potion made to calm a person down, when he heard the compartment-door slide open. A familiar face greeted him and he recognized the boy as Draco Malfoy.

"There you are," The blonde said. "I was looking for you."

After shoving away his luggage he sat down across from Harry with an almost expectant look.

"Why did you look for me?" Harry questioned then, with a raised eyebrow.

"I wanted to speak to you more. You appear interesting." Draco replied after a short silence.

Harry frowned. Why would he seem interesting? Except for the obvious, that he supposedly was some kind of boy-hero for the wizarding world. To be honest, Harry found his fame a bit illogical. He had been a baby and he hardly had any memory of it. Yet he was hailed as a hero for bringing down Voldemort. Honestly, how much could he really have done?

Draco had, apparently, noticed his frown and decided to change the subject.

"So, which house do you think you will be placed in?" Draco questioned, honestly curious.

"No idea," Harry replied and then listened to Draco starting to talk about the Slytherin-house, where he was sure he would end up.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry saw Hogwarts for the first time, he couldn't hold back a gasp of amazement. The castle truly was stunning with its thick stonewalls and the_ aura_, it practically rushed out to greet him. Harry was unable to stop the shiver of delight. A grin spread across his face without him quite realizing it and he had the strange urge to just laugh. It was a silly tough though, so Harry quickly pushed it out of his mind.

**{Unravel Me}**

When they were lead through the hallways, by McGonagall, as she had introduced herself, they were greeted by the sight of talking portraits and ghost's flying around. Harry stole a glance at Draco, to see his reaction. He looked a bit awed, but not so much that you would have noticed it unless you were looking for it.

Most of the students, however, seemed very awed by everything and Harry spotted many mouths hanging open. He sneered inwardly. Sure, he could understand their amazement, but was there really a need to show everyone what you had had for breakfast?

When they stopped outside of two huge doors, the new students immediately went silent. Anticipation and some dread spread through the new students. Harry didn't get what the big idea was until the door swung open to reveal a large room, were four tables were lined up. Students with black robes sat along the tables, and every eye were on them. Certainly looked inviting.

He wasn't able to make out any more before the new students started to move forward and he was being forced to follow.

**{Unravel Me}**

The sorting was a quick affair for most. The hat was placed on someone's head and a house was shouted after only a few seconds.

When Harry's name was called a thick silence spread through the whole hall, before whispers could be heard. Keeping his eyes locked on the hat, he walked slowly to the chair and sat down. The last thing he saw before the hat covered his eyes were stares; all focused on him.

"_Oh? What do we have here?"_

The voice startled Harry and a lot of the confidence he had felt suddenly seemed to drain away. The hat was inside his head? He didn't like that one bit.

"_You have a great mind, young one. Cunning and smart, but knows when to back down. I see bravery too, yes… Your loyalty though, it's only to yourself, I see?"_

"_You can read my mind?" _Harry replied slowly, feeling very uncomfortable.

"_In a way, yes," _The hat replied._ "Now, where to place you? Not Hufflepuff, no, they would do you no good. Perhaps Ravenclaw? Your thirst for knowledge can certainly be compared to those in Flitwick's house. But you have ambition, too much to fit into that house. Yes, I know where to place you." _The hat sounded possibly smug.

"_And where would that be?" _Harry asked impatiently. None of the other sorting's had taken this long. The hat had only touched Draco's head before it had shouted 'Slytherin'.

When the hat announced, "_SLYTHERIN_," Harry ignored the thick silence had spread over the great hall.

He was already getting tired of their eyes on him, so it was a relief when he could sit down next to Draco who offered him a satisfied smirk as a form of greeting. Somehow, he seemed to be the only one who wasn't surprised by Harry's sorting.

After the last student had been sorted into the Gryffindor house, the feast began and Harry observed the other slytherins and conversed quietly with Draco. When the prefects came to show them their dormitory, Harry had been introduced to a few of Draco's friends, such as Zabini, Parkinson and Greengrass. Crabbe and Goyle had only grunted a greeting before continuing to stuff their faces.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry, later that night, lay awake in the Slytherin dormitory, he thought back to what he had promised himself; that he would learn. That he would show those who had called him _'freaks'_ that he was the special one and they were the one who deserved nothing better than to be locked inside a cupboard! He was the one who could do magic, not them.

A cold smile spread across his features and had Albus Dumbledore been there at that moment, he would probably have mistaken him for a young Tom Riddle.

And the castle seemed to stir, almost like a shudder had passed through the very magic imbedded in the thick walls. History seemed to repeat.

**Edited:** 2013-04-10


	4. Minds

**I would like to clear some things up, before we start this chapter!  
**Voldemort _isn't _possessing Quirrell in my story. Also, Harry isn't the type who will bow down to anyone; and that includes Voldemort.

A lot of teachers are introduced in this story. I messed up as well when I was writing about charms, which I (in my cramped little mind) imagined McGonagall to teach. My friend pointed it out and I had to change it. I'm just awesome like that. We also get to see **both** Snape's and Dumbledore's point of view, since I know many wanted to know their reactions to Harry in Slytherin.

I'm a bit hesitant to answer some of the questions due all the spoilers I would give out.  
Also, I know my grammar isn't the best, but I'm trying to improve.  
_  
Feel your pain, you feel mine  
Go inside each other's mind  
Just to see what we find  
Look at shit through each other's eyes._

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 4: Minds**

_A loud, terrified scream, made him stop dead in his track. Before, everything that had been a complete black void around him suddenly morphed into a bright flash of green. Vaguely, he was aware of someone trying to reach him, but all he could see at the moment was the barrier that blocked his way forward. Several cracks stood out on the otherwise blank surface._

_He reached out to place a hand on the sleek surface but a sharp pain shot through him, making him grit his teeth to remain from screaming, black spots dancing behind his eyelids. Then… everything began to fade._

Harry, not surprisingly, was the first one to wake up. Clearing his head from the foggy thoughts remaining from his dream, he sat up quickly. He was at Hogwarts!

Getting dressed, he shot a glance at Draco, who was still sleeping soundly. A smirk slowly spread across his features. Really now, who could resist such an opportunity?

Picking up his wand, smiling a bit at the usual tingling feeling he received every time, he leveled it on the glass of water resting on Draco's bed table. A quiet murmur of _'Wingardium Leviosa'_ and the glass was soon floating above an unsuspecting blonde's head. A bright smile spread across Harry's features.

It had worked! _Wingardium Leviosa_ was the first spell he had read about and he honestly hadn't thought he would be able to get it to work on his first try. But it had, and he could almost feel the magic channel through him and into his wand, going further to raise the hovering glass into the air. This was what he wanted to do, learn about magic, but most importantly_, be able to use it._

A snore from Goyle broke Harry from his reverie and realizing he was getting off track, plus having less time to eat breakfast, it was with a devilish smirk that he made the glass turn up-side-down and pour all its content over Draco.

With Draco's indignant screeches in the background, it was with an amused glint in his eyes that he got down for breakfast and his first day of real lessons.

**{Unravel Me}**

Filius Flitwick was a very strict but fair teacher, Harry had learned quickly. His voice demanded rapt attention or getting kicked out from class. Tardiness by coming late was also not well appreciated. He had learned this by watching the redhead (and two other boys) that had greeted him on the platform barge into class, realizing they were late and being the victim of a lecture in the importance of being on time.

Harry liked Flitwick already.

A person who did not like him this morning, however, was a certain moody blonde who kept glaring at Harry's back. He tried to suppress his smirk when he was once again reminded of this morning and his nice way of waking up his companion. _Companion_, he repeated inside his head.

He wasn't able to call Draco a friend yet. To be honest, he was quite unsure if he wanted a friend. The only example he had as a friend was a small snake he had found in the garden a few years ago, when doing chores. Except for that, his only exposure to the term 'friend' was Dudley's friends. He suppressed a shiver in disgust.

One thing he knew though was that friends were supposed to trust each other. Trust was something Harry had a hard time giving. He wasn't exactly ready to hand it out on a silver platter to anyone who so much as talked to him. Growing up had made him realize that trust had to be _earned_, not just given to anyone.

Trust also meant weakness and he _hated_ weakness. In a way, that meant he must have hated himself too, all those years ago before he discovered magic.

But at the same time, he craved the company of another. Part of that was because he never had any _human_ friends when he was younger, since everyone who tried as much as speak with him, quickly changed their mind after a visit of Dudley's fists.

When he heard professor Flitwick beginning to explain the wand-movement for _Wingardium Leviosa_, he snapped back to attention. Was it even possible that the first spell he was expected to learn in class was the first spell he had ever used since arriving at Hogwarts?

When everyone began trying to get their feathers to float in the air, or even move, Harry realized that some people actually had trouble with it. Focusing his wand on the feather, he murmured a soft _'Wingardium Leviosa'_ and soon, the feather were floating up above the others who had managed to get their feathers to move.

Carefully, he let it float over the classroom using his wand as guidance before he let it drop on the bench in front him again.

"Very good work Mr. Potter," Filius said with approval. "Ten points to Slytherin."

**{Unravel Me}**

Being able to escape History of Magic was a relief. Harry had thought that it would be interesting to learn about his world's history but Professor Binns droning voice and wheezing noises wasn't really what Harry had expected. Not had he expected the endless talk about_ goblins_. Maybe it was interesting for about three minutes, but for almost two hours? No thanks. The most unexpected thing for Harry, however, was the fact that Professor Binns was a _ghost_.

When he had entered the classroom through the blackboard, Harry had been shocked at first. He had barely gotten used to the fact that ghosts were randomly flying around in the corridors and now he had to learn from one? Even the Ravenclaws, who were famous for their hunger for power, had almost fallen asleep after 45 minutes of Binns droning voice.

Luckily, Binns didn't even seem to notice that some students were sleeping and if he did, he didn't remark on it. He just kept on talking about the goblin wars and important figures in the goblin history.

Harry shuddered and lengthened his steps. He had been looking forward to exploring the school's library and now he finally had the opportunity to do so. He had a free block before potions and telling Draco (and ignoring the glare he received) he was going to the library to study had quickly left him alone to read without any disturbance.

When he entered the large, no, _huge_ library Harry could feel his excitement increase and his fingers practically itching for the knowledge he could learn here. Maybe he belonged in Ravenclaw? Harry smiled a little at the thought before he set out to explore the vast expanse of knowledge in the library, curios to know more about his parents, the Dark Lord Voldemort and some _real_ history.

He did not notice the only other person currently devouring knowledge at the same pace he was using, her bushy hair flowing around her as she scanned the covers of the books. Nor did he sense the eyes watching his moves from a dark corner of the library.

**{Unravel Me}**

Severus Snape was _not_ looking forward to his next class. Except for the fact that he would have to teach Slytherin and Gryffindor together, he now had Potter's blasted son in his own house! When the hat first had announced Potter to be in his house, he had first believed to have heard wrong. It wasn't until Harry sat down next to Draco Malfoy that it truly hit him. Harry Potter, vanquisher of the Dark Lord, Boy-who-lived, the chosen one, was now in the snake's den.

But how? The boy's father was the epitome of Gryffindor, brash and loyal. His mother, while she was cunning in her own way, clearly was a Gryffindor. So how in Merlin's name could their son be a Slytherin? It didn't make sense at all. When Snape had first laid eyes on Potter when he walked into the great hall, he could clearly see his mother's eyes staring at him; the high cheekbones and delicate nose. A lot reminded him of Lily.

But where was his father? He did not share the glasses, or the hair that stood in all kinds of directions. Yes, his hair was black and many would say that it resembled James Potter quite brilliantly and that he looked like his father in a lot of ways.

Snape couldn't agree.

When he made his usual dramatic entrance (if he may say so himself) by entering in a void a black clothing flowing behind him and the usual banging of the doors, he was pleased to see some of the Gryffindor's flinching.

His eyes didn't stay on the lion's for long, however, because they were immediately drawn to the boy who had occupied his mind for the last hours. Once again he went through his features, the green _avada-kedavra_ eyes and his posture. There was just something _off_ about him; something that weren't supposed to have been there. This wasn't at all how he had expected Potters son to be.

He had been visualizing a gangly boy with hair looking like it had never seen a hairbrush, a brash personality and _at least_ glasses on top of his nose. This boy had nothing of that.

And Severus Snape was determined to figure out why.

**{Unravel Me}**

When the hat had announced Harry Potter to be a Slytherin, Dumbledore hadn't wanted to believe it at first. He had expected the boy to end up in Gryffindor, just like his mother and father. It had been unexpected… but not completely surprising when he had started to think about it.

When he first met the boy, he had reminded him in a bone-chilling way of young Tom Riddle. He was tight-lipped about himself and already cunning in his own way. Their likeliness frightened him a bit, he could admit now, sitting in his personal office at Hogwarts.

Albus sighed and drew a hand through his beard. He couldn't let the boy remain as he was. He had to do something to stop what he knew would lead to Harry finding an interest in the dark arts. If what he suspected was true, he needed to talk to the boy. Earn the boy's trust and loyalty.

He knew that no matter what; the wizarding world couldn't handle another dark lord.

**{Unravel Me}**

Harry didn't know what to make of his potion professor, Severus Snape. On one hand, he already seemed to dislike him even though he had just met him. (At least Harry figured he hadn't met his potion professor before.) On another hand, he seemed almost curios about him… When he once again felt those dark eyes on his form, he frowned and looked up to meet the obsidian eyes.

First, he could sense a spark of interest from the other man before he himself felt something… unpleasant almost _gripping_ hold of his mind. Panic shot through him at the feeling and he desperately tried to push the feeling away, out of his mind. Then, just as suddenly as the feeling had appeared, it vanished. The headache that had begun to appear slowly faded from his mind.

When professor Snape continued on with class (their short moment only having taken a few seconds) Harry continued to look stubbornly down at his parchment and taking notes with his quill. He refused to meet the eyes of Snape for the rest of the class, even when he knew the man was looking at him.

**{Unravel Me}**

It was first when Severus finally dismissed class that he allowed his mind to race through what had just happened with Potter. He had only meant to take a short glimpse of the boy's feelings, maybe look at a memory or two. He had thought it might've given him an answer to some of his questions concerning the boy.

Instead, the boy had _pushed him out of his mind._ Not only had he noticed his presence, he had pushed him out as well. Taking a deep breath to calm his still racing pulse, he tried to reason with himself. Perhaps someone had taught him Occlumency? It was highly unlikely however, since Severus was quite sure that the boy lived with muggles.

Then… how the _hell_ had the boy been able to push him out?

**{Unravel Me}**

After finally having calmed down after his potion class Harry, stubbornly pushing all thoughts about Snape away, began to ponder what he had read about his parents. Apparently, his father was something called an auror. They were the 'good' guys and their occupation was to catch the 'bad' guys. Harry almost snorted.

He had learned quickly from his reading that the wizarding world was clearly divided by those who used_ light_ magic and by those who use _dark_ magic. Those who used dark magic were the evil, and those who used the light magic were the good ones. Harry couldn't understand it and because of that, his interested had been peaked immediately. He didn't like to not understand.

The problem was though, that the library almost didn't contain any books on dark magic and those who existed were very vague and without going into detail. Frustrated, Harry had thought to ask Madam Pince, the librarian, on books about dark magic but realized quickly that wasn't such a good idea.

So, instead, he had discovered the 'restricted section' of the library. Now he just needed to figure out how to get access to those books, without discovery. For now, he was sated by looking for more information on his mother and father.

**{Unravel Me}**

Last class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, D.A.D.A for short, taught by Quirrell. In a way, Quirrell reminded him of Snape, although Harry couldn't figure out why, it was just the _aura_ they gave out that reminded them of each other. It reminded him of magic in a, tempting, vague way.

Quirrell by begun by telling them what the subject entitled and what they were expected to learn. He mentioned Wingardium Leviosa and said that was the charm Flitwick preferred to teach first, due to it being a quite easy charm to perform and for its variety of uses.

When Quirrell started to talk about the three Unforgivables, Harry instantly snapped back to full attention. He had read about them in a book he had found explaining some more in detail about dark magic. Just as Quirrell was explaining, they led to an immediate life sentence in Azkaban.

"_Crucio_," Quirrell was saying. "Is one of the Unforgivables. It inflects almost unbearable pain to its victim. It has been described with the feeling of having your bones alight with fire and getting your head split open using various crude methods. The strength of the curse depends on the casters feelings and emotions behind the curse. You have to _want_ the person under the curse to suffer." Here he paused to survey the steadily paling faces of some of the students.

"The extreme pain of the curse doesn't create any apparent evidence of physical harm and that makes it a well suited curse for torture methods. It is said that was the Dark Lord's favourite curse." Quirrell ended with a dark smirk.

The Hufflepuff's, also in class together with the Slytherin's, looked ready to cry. Harry, himself, could imagine why that curse was the Dark Lord's favourite. Form what he could gather in the book he had read, it also gave a sort of euphoric feeling to its caster, for those with a dark affinity that is.

"Then, we have _Imperio_," Quirrell continued, ignoring the pale faces of most of the students. "_Imperio_ causes the victim of the curse to obey a spoken command of the caster. Being under the curse is described as a wonderful release of responsibility or worry over one's actions, at the price of one's free will.

"Resisting this curse is possible, however, and some individuals are known for having overcoming this curse and regaining their free will."

The whole class was silent, none having expected this to be their first introduction to the D.A.D.A class. Quirrell sure knew how to not sugarcoat things but Harry also realized that introducing the Unforgivables in the first class filled its purpose. Everyone should know about the Unforgivables and the effects of being under them. There was still one curse left though and that was the curse Harry was most interested in; the killing curse.

"And last but not least, the killing curse, also known as _Avada Kedavra_," Here, some students flinched. "The _Avada Kedavra_ causes jet of green light and a rushing noise, which, when hit, causes instant death to the victim. It doesn't have a counter curse or blocking spell. It is said to be impossible to survive."

Now, some eyes turned to him and Harry could feel his pulse increase, eyes focusing on Quirrell with clarity.

"Even though that is said, we have the only living proof right here with us, the-boy-who-lived. You, who survived the killing curse from the Dark Lord, nonetheless, with nothing but that scar on your forehead." Quirrell said while he moved from behind his desk to approach Harry's bench.

When Quirrell's wand pointed at his face he could hear people gasp and he focused on Quirrell, giving him a cold look, almost like he dared the man to curse him. When the wand pushed his fringe away to reveal his scar, no one was breathing.

"Just a simple lightning bolt on your forehead and that's it?" It almost sounded like a question, being whispered like that.

Just as quick as he had approached, he spun on his heel.

"Class dismissed."


	5. Secrets

**First, I want to thank you guys for all the reviews. **Each time I receive one it motivates me to click in on Word and write a few sentences or a two.

In this chapter we get to see some dueling with Quirrell. The spells will be explained at the bottom of this chapter. Some parts of this chapter are really… not good, but I wanted to get it out before school starts so that we can finally get to the good stuff. In next chapter, there will be some dark arts I hope.

**Warnings:** Horrible Grammar.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

_Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that delight those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

"_Parseltongue" _is written like this.

**Chapter 5: Secrets**

It had been a week after Harry's first arrival to Hogwarts and he still hadn't been able to get access to the restricted section in the library. The more time that passed, the more he craved the knowledge of those books. He currently had a free block and after telling Draco he was taking a walk on the grounds he had been left alone with his thoughts.

This last week had been… interesting to say the least. He liked almost every class they had, except maybe History of Magic. He wasn't particularly fond of Potions either, but that had nothing to do with the subject and a lot more to do with the teacher. Professor Snape had been watching his every move, tempting him to just look at him. Harry hadn't.

Instead, he had focused on brewing the assigned potion, looking only at the cauldron or Draco. When he was asked a question, he answered it, but never actually met the eyes of his professor. He was quite good at potions though and he and Draco often partnered up. Draco and he had been growing closer over the last week and Harry had begun to feel comfortable in his presence. He was always wary, but he felt like he could relax around Draco. It was a relief from the blank face he wore almost the whole day at school around the other students.

Most of the Slytherin's did that as well and only truly relaxed in the common room. It was simply a façade they wore around other students and a few teachers. Slytherin's did not share their secrets.

He liked Slytherin too, even though his welcome hadn't been well received at first. After all, he was still a halfblood and supposed vanquisher of the dark lord, with both of his parents as former Gryffindor's. Of course that meant people had been cold and distant towards him in the beginning. Most of that had changed or ebbed down now, with Harry not making any obvious ruckus and doing well in almost every class, acting rather like the epitome of Slytherin.

The redhead that he now learned was called Ron Weasley had been shooting him glares when their eyes met in corridors or classes. First, Harry had no idea why. Then he learned from Draco that the Weasley family, while pureblood, was blood traitors. They practiced only light magic and practically kissed the ground Dumbledore walked on. To top it off, they were poor. Harry couldn't help but smile when Draco had sneered at the last bit. Apparently, poor was something completely unknown to him.

But this also made him wonder, his vault at Gringotts, while containing a large sum of money, weren't nearly enough to what he should have as the Potter heir. This had also been explained by Draco who had told him that was only a fund until he came of age in the wizarding world. For now, it was his guardian in the magical world who took care of the Potter vault. Here, Harry had frowned and realized he didn't even know who his magical guardian was.

Draco thought it was probably Dumbledore. Harry was keen to agree with him.

So, when a fifth year prefect from Gryffindor handed him a small note telling him that it was from Dumbledore, Harry had been surprised but at the same time a bit eager. The man had known his family after all and was supposedly the one who took care of his vault.

'_While I know this must be unexpected, Harry my boy, I would like to request a meeting in my office at eight o clock tonight. If you don't mind, I would like to have a small chat with you and if you do not know where my office is, just ask one of the teachers, a prefect or your head of the house.  
- Have a nice day_

_Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts_

_P.s I like Chocolate Frogs.'_

Harry reread the note once more before he crumpled the note into a ball, ignoring his amusement about chocolate frogs, and stuffing it into his pocket to continue towards Defense Against the Dark Arts. It had quickly become his favourite class. When most of the students had gotten over the shock of their first lesson and introduction to his class, people had begun to see that Quirrell was a good teacher. Half insane, but still a brilliant teacher were most people opinions on him.

Harry, himself, had immediately found and interest in Quirrell as someone to pay close attention to. He did well in the class too; actually he was one of the top-students in his year already, mostly due to his frenzied studying in the library.

Soon, he saw a blond head walking next to Blaise Zabini.

"Draco!" He called, causing both of them to turn around; Draco with a small smile and Blaise with a grimace.

Somehow, he still received only animosity from the young Zabini. He could accept that, he didn't expect everyone to like him, but he had no reason to practically hate him! He had hardly talked to him, even! It was like he only disliked him for being there. A very small part of him could confess that it annoyed him, while the bigger part tried to convince him that he didn't care.

"Are you ready to duel?" Draco asked when he had caught up with them and they started to walk towards class together, Blaise refusing to look at him.

"Of course," Harry replied with a smirk.

They had been learning defensive and some offensive spells and were now finally going to be putting that to use. Draco, of course, had expressed his wish to 'kick his ass', in terms of using the blonde's own words.

Harry had no intention of that happening. Any time soon.

**{Unravel Me}**

Harry was very excited for these dueling lessons. At first he hadn't wanted to admit it to himself, but in a way, he wanted to impress Quirrell. He wanted the man to acknowledge that he was more than just a good student; he wanted to be the best. The man was an amazing dueler and Harry was practically itching with the need to become just as good and even _better._

The room had been changed for this reason as well. In the middle, a long platform was raised, where they were supposed to duel. Quirrell had also decided to split the Hufflepuff's and Slytherin's for now when they were beginning the dueling lessons.

He said it became easier with a smaller class, but Harry had heard the hidden words of not wanting the Hufflepuff's there when the Slytherin's were dueling. When Theodore Nott slammed into the wall thanks to Draco's well aimed hex, Harry could understand why.

Quirrell helped Theodore to his feet before telling him to visit Madam Pomfrey, suspecting he had a slight concussion from hitting the wall.

"Good job Draco," Quirrell praised the young Malfoy before turning to the rest of the class surrounding the platform. "Next up; Blaise Zabini against Harry Potter."

Quiet murmuring spread across the watching Slytherins. _So_, Harry noted, it wasn't only he who had noticed Blaise dislike for him. Green eyes narrowed on Quirrell as well. Had he also noticed? He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The man seemed to have hidden motives in each of his actions.

Both Harry and Blaise stepped up on the dueling platform before approaching each other. Cold, blue eyes stared at him and Harry met his eyes with an equal coldness. Perhaps he could beat the dislike out of him? Harry thought vaguely when they both spun around to take the necessary five steps from each other before taking their dueling positions, wands at the ready.

When their professor started the countdown he could feel himself tense up and feeling his magic responding with him. It was like a blanket of comfort had been wrapped around him, as if showing him that he could not be hurt, that it wouldn't allow him to be hurt.

Harry was completely defenseless when the first spell hit him in the stomach. He went down hard, the words _'Everte Statum'_ vibrating in his ears.

He could feel his anger rising when he made a move to get up. When he was almost steady on his feet again, another hex came rushing towards him. With reflexes that he didn't quite know himself that he possessed, he swept his wand and a _'Protego'_ blocked the hex.

With a few quick movements he aimed his wand at Blaiseend exclaimed:_ 'Expelliarmus!'_

This time it was Blaise turn to slam down into the floor, barely holding on to his wand. Just as Harry, he got up as quickly as he could, some dizziness still remaining from the powerful force behind the spell. Harry could see the anger shining in those eyes, anger for far more than having gotten hit by his hex.

'_Serpensortia' _Blaise hissed lethally.

Harry was met with the sight of a cobra approaching him with quick speed and some of the students backing away with fear of being bitten. He could hear the hissing noises of agitation coming from the snake. When the snake stopped in front of a steadily paling Draco, Harry lowered his wand. The cobra was deathly still in front of a terrified Draco before it opened its mouth, fangs dripping with venom.

For once, Harry didn't think, he simply acted.

"_Ssstop,"_ He hissed at the snake, with as much force as he could muster. _"Do __**not**__ hurt him!"_

Immediately, the snake's head turned towards him. _"You're a ssspeaker…"_ It hissed and slowly started to approach him. _"How rare,"_ It continued, its sharp fangs showing in what could only be compared to a grin.

There was a dead silence in the room. Each of the students was looking at Harry with different degrees of shock. Even Quirrell seemed visually affected by Harry's revelation. When Harry raised his eyes to look at Blaise, he could see the anger in those eyes, having been replaced by chock.

'_Vipera Evanesca.'_

The spell made everyone snap out of it and they watched as the snake vanished in a puff of black smoke. Quirrell's wand was still raised when every head turned towards him.

"Class dismissed," He said slowly and lowered his wand. "Potter, stay behind."

As the students slowly got up to leave, Harry stayed rooted in his place, still raised on the platform. The hushed whispers slowly faded and left. Draco was the last one to leave, giving Harry a look he couldn't quite decipher. As soon as the door was closed behind them Quirrell took a few quick steps to harshly grab hold of Harry's robe.

"How can _you_ be a speaker?" Quirrell hissed, his eyes burning into Harry's soul, demanding answers.

"I've always been able to speak to snakes." Harry hissed back dangerously, wanting the agitated teacher off of him, still feeling his magic surrounding him and quickly calling his temper to the surface.

Apparently, Quirrell seemed to realize this as well and released Harry's robe.

A calculated glint appeared in Quirrell's eyes as he took in the young boy in front of him, magic pouring off him. When he was this close, he could practically feel the power behind that small frame. He couldn't quite stop a shiver from travelling down his spine. _This young boy…_ He left the train of thought unfinished as Harry spoke.

"Can I leave now?" His voice was low, him having starting to suppress his magic. Even Harry realized that the small duel had made him very agitated, especially having felt the need to protect Draco. When the snake had looked like it was about to bite Draco, Harry hadn't expected the feelings that came rushing forth. The protectiveness, the feeling of not wanting him hurt.

It scared him.

Without himself quite realizing it, he and Draco had become _friends_. Draco had become someone who he was used to having around, would miss if he was gone. In a way, that meant he was dependent on him. He needed to be alone for now, to calm down.

"You can leave… But be careful, Harry," Quirrell finally said.

Harry didn't even realize that Quirrell had called him 'Harry' instead of the usual 'Potter'.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry had finally calmed down after a long walk around the Black Lake he slowly made his way to the Slytherin common room. His steps were slow and lacking their usual confidence. He knew that the second he entered the common room, a confrontation was unavoidable.

The reason he hadn't told them he was a parselmouth was simply because he hadn't had the opportunity to do so, nor had he wanted to. His secrets were his own.

Heaving a deep sigh, he muttered the password _Cunning_ before he entered the common room. The low murmurs that had just recently been heard now fell silent when they saw who it was that had entered. Draco was the first one to approach him.

Harry didn't allow him the time to open his mouth.

"I can speak to snakes," Harry began, addressing everyone present. "I've always been able to. That's all there is to it."

The silence in the room stretched for a few minutes, no one knowing how to react to Harry's flippant attitude. Annoyed, Harry made his way upstairs into his room that he shared together with Draco, Grabbe and Goyle.

"What is it Draco?" He questioned and turned around just as Draco entered the room and closed the door. The blonde flinched, obviously having thought that he had gone unnoticed after him.

"It's creepy when you do that," Draco said and tried a half smile, failed, and just went with a frown instead. "I wanted to thank you though." Harry's raised eyebrow was the only response he received. "You stopped that snake from striking me, didn't you?"

First, Harry was a bit surprised at the words, before he gave a small smile, not quite sure if he wanted to say what he was thinking. For once, he decided to be honest.

"That's what friends are for, right?"

The smile he got in return once again stirred those feelings he thought long to be buried and forgotten.

**{Unravel Me}**

At dinner time, most of the Slytherin's had stopped sending Harry looks. He didn't know if it was because Draco had talked to them, or if they didn't want to make a scene in the great hall. Probably both.

Harry, however, was currently more occupied thinking about the meeting with Dumbledore that he was leaving for soon. When he had told Draco about it, it had been obvious that he was not very fond of the headmaster talking to him in private without any apparent witnesses. Harry was only amused, and a little bit intrigued.

He wanted to talk about his parents and his vault at Gringotts.

Harry shot another glance at the head table, from which Dumbledore had left a few minutes ago. Harry decided it was time to go and with a 'Bye' to Draco vanished out the doors, to find Dumbledore's office. On his way to the hall, he had asked a sixth year Slytherin prefect for the way, and now had a pretty decent description in his head of how to get there.

When he reached the gargoyle he realized that it wanted a password to open. He couldn't be serious…?

"Chocolate frogs," He murmured.

When it opened, he realized he shouldn't have been surprised. Almost everyone in Slytherin considered the headmaster to be a bit barmy. Harry was keen to agree as he got on the moving staircase and finally arrived at the office door. He hadn't even had the time to raise his hand to knock before a voice was heard.

"Come in, Harry." Dumbledore's cheery voice said.

"Hello headmaster," Harry responded with a small nod as he entered the office and took a seat in the chair across the headmaster, his desk separating them.

"Lemon drop?" Dumbledore offered first, to which Harry politely turned down. "You are probably wondering what I called you here for, I assume." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, sir," Harry answered anyway.

"I guessed that you wanted to talk about your parents. You hardly have any memories of them, do you?" Dumbledore's smile was gentle, but Harry remained stoic.

"I would like that very much, sir. I only know the simple details."

"I see." Dumbledore paused to pick up an album from his desk and handed it to Harry. "Fifth page, there is a photo of both of your parents from their time here as students."

It wasn't until he held the album in his hands that he realized he didn't even know how they properly looked. So, when he found his mother, he instantly recognized his own emerald eyes and maybe it was only an imagination, but he thought he could recognize her gentle smile as well.

Next, his eyes traveled to his father; the brown eyes hidden behind a pair of fairly modern glasses. He stood with a crooked grin and an arm around someone named _'Sirius Black'_. He had read about the Black family Harry remembered vaguely, still shocked to finally be able to see his parents, _moving_, even though it was only a photograph.

"Harry, your father wanted you to have something when you started Hogwarts." Dumbledore's voice made Harry snap his head up, so into the album he was holding that he had almost forgotten about the man's presence. Carefully, Dumbledore took the album from him, before he handed him a small package, wrapped in brown paper.

When Harry shot a questioning look to the headmaster, Dumbledore nodded. "You can open it."

Very carefully opening the _present_ he had received, he eyed the cloak that emerged from it. Pushing aside the thoughts of this actually being his first present he raised the cloak in front of him. It shimmered in the light and Harry could feel the magic radiating from it. Everything told him it wasn't an ordinary cloak.

"It's an invisibility cloak," Dumbledore explained, almost as if he had read his thought.

Harry almost couldn't keep the grin off his face. He had just gotten his ticket into the restricted section.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry returned to the Slytherin common room, cloak safely tucked under his arm, he hid it in his trunk before picking up a book on old pureblood families. The name Sirius Black had triggered a memory and he wanted to refresh his memory.

Apparently, Sirius Black had been an outcast in his family, having ended up in Gryffindor and disgracing his family name by ignoring many of the pureblood ways. When his younger brother had been sorted into Slytherin, it had only put Sirius in the shadows even more. What he read next almost made him freeze. Sirius Black was supposedly the one to betray the Potter family and tell the Dark Lord of their location.

He had been caught quickly though, together with the hand of Peter Pettigrew, who Sirius had apparently murdered afterwards. That Sirius now was situated in Azkaban somehow didn't get rid of the nausea he was feeling. The man, who had indirectly led to both his parents' deaths, was his _godfather,_ according to friends of the family?

**{Unravel Me}**

_Everte Statum -_ **Everte Statum** is a spell that can send an opponent flying backwards. Draco Malfoy used this spell against Harry Potter at the Dueling Club.

_Protego_ – Protection charm against smaller hexes and curses.

_Expelliarmus –_ Everyone should know this one, but whatever. The **Disarming Charm** is a defensive spell that aims to disarm an opponent, causing whatever is in the persons hand at the time, usually a wand, to fly out of his or her hand. It has been known to knock an opponent backwards in some cases. The charm's incantation is _Expelliarmus_.

_Serpensortia -_ The **Snake Summons Spell** (_Serpensortia_) is a spell that conjures a snake.

_Vipera Evanesca_ - _**Vipera Evanesca**_ is the counterspell for Serpensortia. It causes the conjured snake to vanish. Presumably, it is related to the Vanishing Spell.

Most information is taken from Wikipedia.


	6. Howl

**I have a poll on my page I would like you guys to vote on! Thanks!**

This chapter was painful to write and ugh… some parts are really _bleurgh_ but I needed to get to the last scene where Harry meets a certain someone.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter

_Screaming in the dark, I howl when we're apart  
Drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart_

My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in  
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to howl  
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in  
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to

**Chapter 6: Howl**

It was a few days since Harry had been to visit Dumbledore in his office and he had patiently been biding his time to finally break into the restricted section. That Dumbledore had been stupid enough to give him his invisibility cloak was something Harry couldn't understand however. The man seemed anything but stupid. Manipulative and more like a Slytherin than anyone would suspect; yes, but stupid?

No.

When he had been reading about the Dark Lord in one of the books he had borrowed from the library, it had mentioned briefly about his counterpart; a light lord. From everything Harry could gather, it had to be Dumbledore. The revelation had made Harry even more wary. Since he was the supposed to be the savior of the wizarding world he was expected to be everything that the light portrayed. He could even guess that in political means, being seen together with Dumbledore would be beneficial for the light side.

Harry had always taken an interest in politics, even in the muggle world; he had found the game of lies and deceit to be intriguing. Reading about wizarding politic was even more interesting than the muggle politics, something that honestly hadn't been all that surprising. Everything in the wizarding world seemed more interesting and just plain _better_ than the muggle world.

Wizards were obviously superior to simple muggles.

With that last thought, Harry carefully slid the sheets away and got up from his bed. He was still dressed in his Hogwarts clothes and soundlessly opened his trunk to bring out the invisibility cloak. First making sure everyone was asleep, he vanished under it.

It was time to break into the restricted section.

**{Unravel Me}**

'_Lumos,'_ Harry intoned quietly.

Holding the tip of his wand close to the covers of the books, he read the titles with great interest. Carefully putting his invisibility cloak on an empty chair, he took hold of a book named "Dark arts in its simplest form_"._

While Harry wanted to bring loads of books from the restricted section, he realized it was a higher chance of discovery if he brought a lot of books with him, so he opted to only bring one book at a time.

Deciding to bring that book for now, he grabbed hold of it and covered himself, book included, under the invisibility cloak. Slipping out of the library, he moved as silently as he could back to the Slytherin common room.

A small noise made him stop dead in his tracks and take a deep breath of nervousness. Was anybody there? A cold feeling told him he was being watched.

When a hand suddenly grabbed hold of him from behind and covered his mouth, he was ready to just hex the person who was behind him at the first chance he got. The person pulled the invisibility cloak from him and spun him around.

"What are you doing sneaking around at this time under an _invisibility cloak_, Potter?" Quirrell hissed.

Harry, so relieved that it was Quirrell, didn't even know what to reply and even less thought about hiding the book. Of course it shouldn't be any surprise what his next words were when Harry realized this.

"That book, give it to me."

Reluctantly, admitting to himself that he couldn't exactly outrun the professor in school, a place where he met the older almost every day in class, he handed the book over to his professor.

"Are you interested in the dark arts, Harry?" Quirrell asked after a while and Harry snapped his head up to meet the eyes of his professor, most in surprise of being called 'Harry'.

When the question eventually sunk in, he hesitated. Should he tell him? Wasn't he a professor under Dumbledore's hand?

"Maybe," He said finally, reluctantly.

"This book is well written and easy to understand then, for a beginner." There was sort of a smug smile on Quirrell's face.

Harry frowned. "But dark arts are forbidden, especially here, right?"

Apparently, his professor was even sharper then Harry had first given him credit for.

"Are you referring to Dumbledore?"

At Harry's nod and he continued.

"I believe I can keep him in the dark for a while." He smirked. "You have a free block on Mondays after lunch, don't you? If you want to, feel free to come by and visit my office then."

Stupidly, Harry got his book back and with a 'Good night' Quirrell was out of sight. Still not quite comprehending what had just happened, Harry started walking back towards the common room, now more careful then before. What if he had bumped into Snape instead of Quirrell?

He shivered.

When Harry finally had made it safely into his room, luckily not being caught again, he sneaked the book into his trunk. Just when he was about to close it, he caught sight of the same book he had bought first together with his schoolbooks. He had almost forgotten about it!

Taking another glance around the room, just to make sure everyone was in fact, asleep, Harry took the book out and swept a gentle hand over the cover. A calm feeling seemed to wash over him and it wasn't long until he was lying in his bed, the book in his hands, eyes scanning the pages as if in a trance.

Not until much later did he finally fall asleep, book still in his hands and whispering secrets of parselmagic, chambers and basilisks.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry couldn't hold back yet another yawn at breakfast Draco finally snapped.

"That's it! When the hell did you fall asleep last night?" The blonde exclaimed.

Harry sighed. "I was reading, Draco, and I didn't realize what time it was."

"That explains everything," Diane piped in. "You always have those gorgeous eyes of your buried in a book instead of looking at other…_ personages_." She concluded with a bat of her lashes.

Harry rolled his eyes at her. She was one of the first girls to approach him of the Slytherins and although she had seemed shallow at first, he had realized quite quickly that she was a lot deeper than that. By acting self-centric she expertly hid other, deeper feelings. She had grown on him. From an annoying little girl to a person he could banter with at every given opportunity.

Draco, however, did not seem to like her, especially at first, but had in the end given up some of the grudge he had held and was starting to warm up.

"Nobody asked for your opinion," Draco sneered.

A bit.

**{Unravel Me}**

Draco watched the green eyed boy in front of him with shrewd eyes. So he hadn't been dreaming when he thought he had seen Harry return to the dorm way after curfew. He hadn't even been wearing his night clothes either, but was still dressed in his school robes. Not a simple bathroom visit then.

So, where had he been?

He didn't even realize he was still staring at Harry.

"What is it Draco? You've been staring at me for the past minutes." Harry's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he sneered when the words finally registered.

"Don't flatter yourself." He bit out, still irritated at Diane who tried to practically sit in Harry's lap.

He couldn't hold back the smirk though at Harry's indignant expression and decided to push the event to the back of his mind, for now.

He could confront Harry later.

**{Unravel Me}**

Although Harry had been tired this morning, he had been in a good mood still. After finally reading something from the parselbook (as he had decided to name it) he had somehow felt refreshed and ready for the day. Charms in the morning hadn't been that bad either, but fairly interesting talking about the Summoning Charm, the incantation being _Accio_.

Now, he was just plain grumpy. Especially since Draco was practically skipping to _potion class_, even if he, as a Malfoy, would deny any such claims. Malfoy, apparently, didn't skip.

Not even these thoughts got him in a better mood. He did not like the professor ever since he had tried to intrude inside his mind in the first class. Potion in itself was rather interesting, but Professor Snape just made it horrible. If somebody could burn a hole into someone by watching them too much, Snape would have succeeded long time ago. It seemed as if he never took his eyes off him.

He supposed though, that if the professor never took his eyes of him, someone was bound to notice.

That someone hadn't noticed already surprised him.

Weren't Slytherins supposed to be observant?

Someone else who was observing him, however, was a certain Blaise Zabini. The dislike that had been obvious before had now been replaced by barely veiled curiosity.

Now, it wasn't only Snape's gaze he had to avoid, but Zabini's too and just when he needed his utmost concentration to make the healing potion perfect. Crushing the Belladonna using his scalpel he carefully poured the juice into the potion.

"Potter!" Snape were suddenly completely focused on him, as was most of the rest of the class. "Tell me the six other names for the 'Belladonna'."

Harry frowned. He was quite sure that the Belladonna only had five other names. Not six.

"Deadly Nightshade, Deaths Herb, Atropa, Dwale, and Witch's berry, sir," He said slowly, drawing out the last name to get more time to think.

"And the sixth?"

"There is none," Now Harry was certain. He knew it was only five. To prove his point, he raised his green eyes to meet the eyes of his professor. Snape seemed almost as surprised as Harry felt. Somehow, Harry knew that the professor wouldn't enter his mind now.

"Very good, Potter. Ten points to Slytherin."

Now, Harry was positively shocked. Never had Snape given him points before, no matter which question he answered. Then, he spotted the slight twitching of his professor's lips that he would never had noticed if he weren't looking for it, and realized that the bastard wanted him surprised and was even enjoying it! Harry glared.

Some things never changed after all.

**{Unravel Me}**

When the day was finally over, Harry was practically exhausted and wanted nothing more than to rest.  
Getting ready to leave quickly from the dining hall, he was stopped by the sound of flapping wings. He wasn't interested in the Daily Prophet, but Draco apparently was as he gave his owl a treat for the newspaper before opening it.

Deciding he could wait a few minutes for Draco to read the paper, he sat down again. When the last sound of flapping wings disappeared, Harry noticed that it had been the only sound. Confused, Harry looked over at Draco sitting across from him. Since he hadn't decided to subscribe to the Daily Prophet, he was almost eh only one who didn't hold a paper in his hands.

"Harry, you might want to see this." Draco's voice was strained as he met the questioning gaze of his friend.

Taking the outstretched newspaper his eyes froze when he saw the front page.

"**KILLER SIRIUS BLACK ESCAPES FROM AZKABAN!"**

Not being able to tear his eyes away from the picture of Sirius Black, Harry didn't notice the glances thrown his way. It was common knowledge that the Black heir was the betrayer of the Potter family.

When the newspaper in his hands started to tremble, he dropped it on the table before rising. Without a word, he spun on his heel and ran, thoughts of murder and betrayal flashing before his eyes.

**{Unravel Me}**

Having finally calmed down a little, he decided to take a walk on the grounds, just to clear his head. Sirius escape hadn't been noticed until much later than usual due to a minor wall inside the prison collapsing. He could have been gone for almost two days before anyone would have noticed anything.

Unwittingly, his steps took him close to the edge of the forbidden forest and soon he was walking into it.

The sound of a twig snapping made him stop in his march. He had only meant to explore the outskirts of the infamous forest, but when he looked around he realized that he had gone much farther than he intended.

A feeling of dread washed through him when he remembered all the horror stories of students eaten alive by acromantulas or stomped to death by centaurs. It had all sounded stupid then, but now, Harry wasn't so sure. Just in case, he took a strong hold of his wand and lit a lumos. The sun had started to go down and it was getting steadily darker by the minute.

Just great.

"Wouldn't it be fucking amazing if the great Harry Potter got lost in the forest and died?" Harry muttered to himself, already being able to imagine the headlines in the newspapers.

Then he had to snort at his own stupidity. What was he? A three year old not capable of defending himself? Of course he would get out of here without any problems. Stories were only stories after all.

Another twig snapped, closer this time.

Spinning around, he tried to search for the one responsible for making the sound, only to come up with nothing but more trees.

He could feel his pulse increase and his magic reacting with him. Just as he was ready to fire of a hex at whatever it was, his magic was ready with him. It was sort of a strange, but familiar feeling and he immediately felt himself relax a bit from his tense posture.

A blood curling howl made him stiffen just as abruptly again and now he was glancing frantically around, trying to determine from which direction it had come from. It had been close. Too close.

Did werewolves live here? He did not want to meet one, in that case.

Frustrated, he spun around again only to stare straight into a pair of pure yellow eyes, practically glowing in the fading light.

With reflexes matching a serpent he pointed his wand to the wolf, a hex on the tip of his tongue.

The wolf in front of him was big, overly so for a normal wolf, but its black fur was scruffy and lanky, almost like it was a long time ago since it had seen sunlight. The next thing he realized was the fact that it wasn't a wolf, but rather, a huge black dog. In many ways, it resembled a grim. And a grim always portrayed death and suffering.

Then, he saw the blood dripping down its hind leg. It was limping too. To sum it up, the dog/grim looked horrible and dead tired.

Suddenly, the dog started to morph into another shape; a shape with two legs. Harry instinctively took two steps back, wand still at the ready.

In front of him, instead of the black dog suddenly stood Sirius Black, the same man who he had just seen on the front page of the newspaper, looking more worn down, but still with his black axel length hair and grey eyes. This was the person who betrayed his mother and father. Shock and anger replaced the feelings of fear and a growl, surprisingly, slipped out of his mouth, not Black's.

The shock melted away to a burning anger. "What the fuck are you doing here! You betrayed my parents to Voldemort!" Several nasty curses went through his mind and he grit his teeth to control his magic who wanted to lash out just as much as he did.

"Harry, no! I need to speak with you. I did not betray James, you, or Lily, you have to understand!" Sirius was interrupted before he could say another word.

"What is there to understand?" Harry spat, eyes flashing dangerously. "You allowed them to die."

Suddenly, Black leapt, and Harry, still so caught up in his anger lost grip of his wand and went down hard, Sirius Black right after him.

"Listen to me!" Black growled, on top of him, holding his hands down and the rest of him with his body weight. "I did not go to V-Voldemort and told him your parent's location. I was not their secret keeper. Pettigrew was!" The desperation he had missed before, he could now see clearly in those eyes.

"You expect me to believe that? You killed Pettigrew!" He had calmed down a bit now and realized that allowing his temper to control him he ceased his struggling and just settled for a fierce glare.

"I _can _prove it since Pettigrew is inside Hogwarts," Sirius also seemed to realize that Harry had calmed down a bit, so he carefully let go of his arms.

A punch sent him tumbling backwards and in seconds Harry had his wand pointed at him.

"I can listen to you, but it better be worth my while."

And Sirius Black told him everything, of Peter Pettigrew being the secret-keeper instead of him, that Peter had gone to Voldemort and afterwards when he had chased him down to kill him but without success, his imprisonment in Azkaban and about Pettigrew's animagus form being a rat.

He finished by saying he could repeat the same story with Veritaserum, the truth serum, running through his veins. While Harry listened, the wand who had been pointed at Sirius steadily lowered until it hung limply at his side.

There was a short silence before Harry spoke. "Let's say for a moment that I believe you, what difference would it make?"

Now, it looked like Black hesitated, became uncertain, as if he didn't know if he should tell him or not.

It looked like he made up his mind. "Harry, I am your father."

**{Unravel Me}**

**Edited: **2011 – 01 - 24

I just wanted to leave a short note down here after I finished writing the chapter. I did not mean to copy Star Wars with the last sentence, it just happened. x)

Thanks for the reviews in the last chapter and don't forget to bring new ones! ;)

**Don't forget the poll in my page, but do bear in mind that if you vote yes, that won't happen until third year.**


	7. Mistake

**THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR OVER 100 REVIEWS!**

I want to start by saying that I have **edited chapter 6 **so it would be beneficial for you if re-read it. A reviewer pointed out a few mistakes and I hope it's better now.

I don't like this chapter at all, to be honest.

Another things is Diane, **she is not Daphne Grengrass** if that's what some people thought. She is the first of my very few OC's that will appear.

Year 1 is coming to an end and year 2 will begin soon and **we'll see Tommy-boy very soon!**

Result from the poll is Harry with long hair. If everyone hates it, I can always cut it off. ;)

**Warnings**: Horrible grammar.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter

_Who's to say it woulda worked, and who's to say it wouldn't have?  
I was young and strugglin' but old enough to be your dad  
The fear of being a father has never disappeared  
Pondering frequently while I'm sippin' on my beer  
My vision of a family was artificial and fake  
So when it came time to create I made a mistake_

**Chapter 7: Mistake**

"Harry, are you okay?"

Green eyes rose to meet grey ones and Harry realized he had been staring at the same spot for the last few minutes. When Draco didn't get an answer, he asked another question.

Harry didn't hear him. He was already thinking back to what his _supposed _father had told him.

"_Harry, you need to believe me! You can see it too right; his name?" Sirius exclaimed, frustrated and desperate to make his son understand._

_Harry could see it, the truth staring him right in the face with bright letters saying __**Peter Pettigrew**__. He didn't know what was worse, to continue living on like he had, pretending that nothing had happened or to accept what seemed to be the truth in something that would ultimately change his life._

_If his father wasn't James Potter, but instead Sirius Black, that would change everything._

_When Sirius explained that he had seen Pettigrew in the newspaper, in his rat form, he had a new purpose to break out of Azkaban. The map he now held was supposed to help him with that._

_Intending for a brief stop at his house (Grimmauld Place) he had found the letter._

He now held the proof in his hands. A letter that had been sent to Grimmauld Place ten years ago, addressed to Sirius Black.

'_Dear Padfoot,_ Lily had written.

_I don't know if this is the last you will hear from me. That's why I finally managed to sum up my courage and write you this letter. You have a son, Padfoot, a son who is turning 1 in a week._

_I know you were suspicious in the beginning, weren't you? That Harry wasn't James. But you were too kind to confront me and stir up memories best forgotten. That's what we promised each other in the morning right? It would be like a simple __**obliviate**__. How naïve we were…_

_Things never turn out the way you want it to. To be honest, I never intended to tell anyone in the beginning, not you, not Harry, not James but I realize that is not right. A child has a right to know who their parents are, even if it's only in a fading memory or an old photograph._

Here, the handwriting had turned more shaken, and you could see traces of dried tears on the page.

_I'm so scared Padfoot! What if Harry really is the chosen one, like Dumbledore says? What if I won't be able to protect him anymore? I'm his mother, Padfoot! I should always be here, I should be the one to watch his first step and hear his first word! Damn this war, damn it all!_

_I love my family so much. That's why Padfoot, if something happens to me, take care of my son._

_Take care of our son. _

_- Lily'_

Harry remembered everything so clearly; every word was ingrained to his mind. When he blinked, the words would flash before his eyes. For the first time in his entire life, he wished to be normal; to have been born in a loving family and eventually find love on his own. Then, maybe have a child. He would watch his child grow at the same pace he grew older. One day, he would die and eventually be forgotten by the rest of the world.

It even sounded naïve and stupid in his head, but right now his thoughts were in turmoil and his vision was starting to get dizzy. The last thing he saw was Draco moving towards him to catch him as he fell.

Deeper into the darkness than ever before.

**{Unravel Me}**

_An uncomfortable feeling was surrounding him, almost choking him, as he slowly began to awaken. Not a sound could be heard and the uncomfortable feeling shifted to a feeling of dread and then morphed into pain. It started slowly, but spread like fire through his body, conscience and bones._

_He felt like screaming, but he couldn't open his mouth. Then, he realized that he couldn't open his eyes either. The pain went numb with the fear. When images started flashing before his eyes he could do nothing except view them in a disarray of what seemed like memories._

_The memories didn't seem like happy ones. A feeling of loneliness accompanied them and he realized that they weren't his own. A loud crash made him draw a deep breath before everything around him vanished into a swirl of dark flashes and horrified screams._

White was the first thing that met him when he opened his eyes. He had to squint to make out anything before he slowly started to get used to the sudden light. The next moment he realized that he **could **open his eyes and that what he had just experienced had to be a dream of sorts. What else could it be?

One thing he knew for certain, it had been scary, not being able to feel anything but negative emotions while you couldn't move, speak or see anything. He shuddered.

"You're awake!" A voice suddenly exclaimed.

Tilting his head to the side, he saw Draco sitting next to him, looking rather anxious but relieved at the same time.

"You have no idea how you frightened me when you fainted like that!" Draco said, moving his chair a bit closer to be able to lower his voice.

That's right… He had fainted.

Then, in a second, everything came rushing back to him; meeting Sirius Black, his **father**, Peter Pettigrew, the marauder map, the letter from his mother and he desperately trying to figure out what the hell was happening with his life.

Just when the feeling of nausea came over him again he finally realized what he was doing.

Since when had he turned into such a wimp? A person who couldn't get anything done by themselves? He could figure this out. He could always figure it out.

"Draco, you don't happen to have some old copies of the daily prophet? Maybe a week or two back?"

That's right. He could handle this.

**{Unravel Me}**

Easier said than done, the saying goes. Harry never wanted to look at another newspaper again and yet he forced himself to pick up another one to sort through and see if he could find the picture Sirius had been referring to. If Peter Pettigrew was in fact in Hogwarts, Harry would find proof of it. The map in his bag could be fake after all.

Suddenly, a picture caught Harry's attention. It was taken when the new first years were boarding the Hogwarts express and first used now to make some article about Hogwarts that Harry didn't even bother to read. In the corner of the picture, to Harry's big surprise, the person who held a small cage in his hand was someone he recognized. Ron Weasley.

Inside the cage was a rat, and when Harry squinted, he realized the rat was missing a finger.

Realization dawned over him.

Peter Pettigrew was Ron Weasleys pet rat!

**{Unravel Me}**

Transfiguration was a class that Harry normally enjoyed, but today he simply couldn't concentrate, thanks to a certain redhead. He kept throwing glances at Ron Weasley without being able to stop himself and someone was bound to notice soon.

An elbow suddenly found its way into Harry's ribs and he threw an accusing glance at Draco who just glared back.

"Pay attention and stop staring," Draco hissed quietly.

So somebody had noticed his absentmindedness and honestly, Harry wasn't surprised that it had been Draco. Draco could after all be quite perceptive once he started to use his brain and stopped leaning on his father. One thing Harry had quickly learned about Draco was the fact that he was terrified to be a disappointment to his father.

He wanted to make him proud and get his approval at any cost. That's probably why he competed with Harry in Slytherin for the top marks. Honestly, Harry admired his commitment. Sure, he also put a lot of effort into his school work, but nothing compared to Draco. Still, they almost always shared the same marks.

When McGonagall finally, **finally**, dismissed class Harry breathed a sigh of relief and before he could rush over to the Slytherin dorms, Draco stopped him with a hand.

"Harry, we need to talk," He sounded serious.

That was probably why Harry threw one last longing glance at Ron Weasley disappearing with someone he vaguely recognized as Dean Thomas from Gryffindor.

He gave Draco a nod and followed him back to their common room. After all, they had a free block before dinner and he wouldn't be able to execute his plan after dinner anyway.

"Harry, would you please tell me what's going on?" Draco finally asked when they had taken a seat in the corner of the Slytherin common room.

The question surprised him, honestly. He thought he had masked his feelings fairly well and avoiding detection from almost everyone. Then again, he had fainted; in front of Draco. With a flick of his wand a privacy spell quickly surrounded them. Harry didn't want to risk anyone overhearing. It never hurt be cautious, after all.

Draco only narrowed his eyes further.

"What makes you say that?" He said.

"Harry! As if the privacy charm isn't enough! You've been vanishing for a couple of hours apparently taking _walks_ around the lake or something like that! I am quite sure that you have an invisibility cloak as well, with all the times you have magically disappeared from thin air! What is it that you are not telling me?" By the time Draco stopped ranting, he was out of breath and Harry was really glad he had thought to put up a privacy charm.

But he had to admire Draco for being able to find out that much. The question though, was whether he could trust the blonde or not. The boy had proved he was a valuable friend, someone he should treasure and keep instead of pushing away.

"I think Peter Pettigrew is in the castle."

Choosing to trust him was absolutely worth it after seeing Draco's face morph into shock and his jaw dropping. In spite of the situation, he couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"What?" Draco finally managed when he stopped choking on thin air.

"You heard me. Peter Pettigrew is in the castle." Harry began and then told him of his meeting with Sirius, the letter and everything else, leaving out the most private parts.

When he was finished, Draco looked ever paler than usual.

"So you're saying that Peter was the one who betrayed your parents… mother… whatever." Draco paused and met Harry's gaze. "So, what's the plan?"

Harry smirked. He had found a good friend in Draco that he could count on. Digging through his bag he got up the map he had gotten from Sirius and opened it on the table.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," He whispered and watched Draco's expression turn from surprise to intrigue in just a few seconds.

"You got that from… your father?" Draco asked, hesitating only a bit on the 'father' part.

After all, even Harry hadn't quite accepted it yet, how could Draco?

"Yes," He answered and searched for the spot that would mark where Peter Pettigrew was currently hiding in the shape of a rat.

Draco saw him first and pointed at a fast moving spot, on its way to disappear from Hogwarts grounds. But the reason why Harry hadn't seen the spot first was because he was so focused on the other spot moving towards Peter Pettigrew.

His father; Sirius Black.

**{Unravel Me}**

When Harry and Draco were running through the empty castle as fast as they dared, thoughts of his father and his parents betrayer flashed through his mind. There were no doubts in his mind that his father wanted Peter Pettigrew dead, by his own hands if possible.

Sirius had been best friends with his father and maybe even loved his mother? Even Peter Pettigrew had been considered a friend once, before he had turned out to be a coward that feared death enough to betray his friends in every way possible.

He didn't realize how long they had been running before he could see the outline of the infamous shrieking shack. He had never actually been there before, but he had heard the rumors. Not even the ghosts of Hogwarts dared to roam inside the shrieking shack. That didn't stop him from hearing the howl coming from said place that could only belong to his father. Tearing the door open he quickly surveyed the scene in front of him.

He came just in time to see Ron's pet rat, Scabbard, morph into a small, almost grotesque man who really resembled the rat he had pretended to be for all these years. Wormtail. Now Harry could fully understand the name. The man resembled a rat as much as it was possible while still remaining human: yellow teeth, almost a bald head and small eyes that squinted in the faint light coming from the moon.

Across from him, another shape changed form into his father and he could hear Draco draw in a sharp breath of air from behind him. So he had finally caught up then.

A wail from Peter made him focus on the scene in front of him again. Sirius had his wand pointed at Pettigrew with a dark look on his face. Even though he had denied everything dark that was in his inheritance, he truly looked like a dark heir to the Black family right now.

"Harry," His father suddenly said, voice eerily calm. "What you are about to witness is something I want to call justice."

Harry couldn't help but shudder at his tone. It sounded so deeply dark, like he was completely submerged into ending the person in front of him. The most terrifying thing however, was the feeling of complete _thrill _that washed through him at the display.

He could practically feel the magic radiating from his father and no matter how much Sirius had tried to deny it, a large part of it was dark, oh so sweet and dark.

When the first spell hit Pettigrew he hadn't heard the name. But he would recognize that shining red light anywhere. No other spell had such a radiant and pure red colour as the _'Crucio'_.

Peter went down with a shriek that spoke of agonizing pain. It wasn't the person writhing on the floor in pain that held Harry's attention, however. No, it was his father. Those grey eyes that had seemed almost dead when he had met him only hours ago where now ablaze like thundering clouds.

Then, the spell ended and Sirius spoke again.

"It's enough now," He began in a flat tone as he watched with impassive eyes as Peter Pettigrew, former Marauder, tried to crawl back from him. But even he seemed to realize it was futile as Sirius pointed his wand at him again. Something akin to regret flashed through both Peter and Sirius eyes, before Sirius whispered the two forbidden words.

"_Avada Kedavra."_

_Justice indeed,_ Harry thought as he closed his eyes when the green flash disappeared to leave behind the body of his parent's betrayer.

Or was it really justice? A voice whispered, hidden deep within his conscience.

**{Unravel Me}**

I really struggled with this chapter and I still do not like it, but I had to get something up. If you've spotted some mistakes, I would be glad if you could inform me! Thanks!

**An important thing I want to end this chapter with is that I've been considering getting a beta. If anyone is interested, please PM me if you are interested and I would be really grateful! **I've been reading up on beta's too so I would be very glad to have someone read through my work and tame some of my horrible grammar.

About the next update, I don't know how long it will take. Hopefully faster than this one.


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